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Primo
January 1944. }} For the Primoflex and Primo Jr TLR cameras, see Tōkyō Kōgaku. The Primo (プリモ) is a Japanese 4.5×6 folding camera made by Daiichi Kikō and distributed by Ōsawa in the first half of the 1940s. Description The Primo has a horizontal folding body, unusual for a 4.5×6 format camera. The shape of the folding struts is inspired from the Balda folders. The folding optical finder is in the middle of the top plate, there is a body release to the right — as seen by the photographer — and a button to the left which simultaneously opens the finder and the folding bed. The advance knob is at the left end and has an arrow to indicate the winding direction. The back is hinged to the right and has a single red window at the top right, protected by a horizontally sliding cover. There are strap lugs at both ends of the top plate, spring-mounted film retaining flanges at the bottom and a screw thread in the middle of the bottom plate. The name PRIMO is embossed in capital letters in the folding bed leather. The shutter is a Rapid-Presto (T, B, 1–500) made by Kinshō. , shutter item 18-R-4. The front plate is inscribed PRIMO at the top and RAPID–PRESTO under the lens. There is sometimes an additional RAPID–PRESTO engraving at the bottom of the rim. The lens is a three-element Oscar Anastigmat 75/4.5 or 75/3.5 with front-cell focusing, made by Ōki. , lens items Lb28 and Lc7. The maker's name is not mentioned for the f/3.5 lens but the attribution to Ōki is likely. Advertisements and other documents The official list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941 has the "Semi Primo I" for ¥121 and the "Semi Primo II" for ¥160, with no further detail. , type 3, sections 6B and 7B. The same two models are also in a similar price list dated November 1941. , type 3, sections 6B and 7B. In a December 1942 advertisement in Asahi Graph, the two versions are described as the Primo I (プリモⅠ型) with f/4.5 lens ( ) and Primo II (プリモⅡ型) with f/3.5 lens ( ). Advertisement in Asahi Graph, 23 December 1942, reproduced at Gochamaze. , items 1225–6, and , p.239, mistakenly say that the model I is black and the model II is chrome. The May 1943 advertisement in Hōdō Shashin lists the same versions at a higher price ( and ). Advertisement in Hōdō Shashin May 1943, reproduced in , p.90. Both documents mention the manufacturer Daiichi Kikō and the distributor Ōsawa Shōkai. The two models are also listed in the April 1943 government inquiry on Japanese camera production. , items 33–4. The January 1944 advertisement in , reproduced above, has the same two versions. Advertisement in January 1944, p.2. For some reason, the price is the same as in the advertisement dated December 1942. The distributor is mentioned as Ōsawa Sangyō, new name of Ōsawa Shōkai. In all the advertisements, the camera was touted as "the smallest of the 4.5×6" (セミ判で一番小さい), with an "ideal horizontal construction" (理想的横位置), and the advertising picture is the same, showing a camera in chrome finish. Actual examples Most observed examples of the Primo have chrome body edges and a chrome viewfinder. However at least one example of the Primo II is known in black finish: it has black painted body edges and a black viewfinder front frame. Example pictured in , item 1225. Two different types of advance knob are known. The presumably earlier Chronology inferred from the lens numbers. type has a flat top; Examples pictured in , p.239, and in this page at Japan Family Camera. the other type has a slightly different shape with a grooved top, Examples pictured in , items 1225–6, and observed in online auctions. the same as in the advertising picture. Other minor variations are noticed in the lens and shutter: the lens bezel is either black or silver (at least on the f/3.5), and the RAPID–PRESTO marking on the shutter rim is intermittently absent. Serial numbers for the Oscar Anastigmat lens are known in the 2xxx to 5xxx range. One isolated example of the camera has been observed with a Rieze-Anastigmat 7.5cm f/4.5 lens and a New Torio shutter (T, B, 5–200). Example observed in an online auction. This lens and shutter assembly is probably not original, and was probably taken from a Semi Leotax. Notes Bibliography Original documents * Type 3, sections 6B and 7B. * Items 33–4. * Type 3, sections 6B and 7B. * January 1944. Advertisement by Ōsawa Sangyō on p.2. Recent sources * Item 223. * Page 239. * Items 1225–6. Links In Japanese: * Primo I at Japan Family Camera (mis-identified as a Primo II) * Advertisement for the Primo published in the 23 December 1942 issue of Asahi Graph, reproduced in the Japanese camera page at Gochamaze Category: Japanese 4.5x6 viewfinder folding Category: P